


Sonic: Adventures of the Blue Blur Season 1

by Nexter45



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 21:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2164992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nexter45/pseuds/Nexter45
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The complete first season of Sonic: AotBB. Season 2 has started over at my fanfiction.net (Nexter45)<br/>Original Description: Sonic the Hedgehog and friends find themselves caught off guard after one year of peace. What enemies, old and new, will surface. Also, something dark is brewing in Sonic, but what does it mean for him and the fate of the world? Featuring: Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark, Team Chaotix (Including Mighty the Armadillo). Now Featuring Collab Episodes!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sonic: Adventures of the Blue Blur Season 1

**Author's Note: Hello AO3 readers! I am Nexter45, author of this fine Sonic fic. This is the complete first season, omitting almost all author's notes. In these 49 pages (the page count on a text editor) you will find an Action/Adventure/Drama featuring your favorite Blue Blur and his compatriots. I am searching for authors for post season filler episodes, which you can learn in more detail about in episode 10 on fanfiction.net. I hope you enjoy** _ **Sonic: Adventures of the Blue Blur** _ !

 

**[Episode 1] One Year: No Incident**

 

“Ahh,” Sonic let out a contented sigh, “This is the life.” Sonic found himself lying on a flat rock outside Tails' lab. The lab, in all its very ramshackle, parted together charm was shading Sonic and keeping him cool in the South Island heat. All was as it should be... peaceful and serene.

“Hey, Sonic!” Tails yelled at his friend, rushing from inside his workshop.

“Yeah Tails,” Sonic raised a hand to acknowledge his best friend.

Tails was brimming with excitement, “Knuckles just called, he wants us to come over to Angel Island for a party!”

“A party, huh?” Sonic chuckled, “Didn't know ol' Knucklehead had it in him.”

“Yeah, I know right,” Tails laughed, “ He said Amy came over to help him, since parties really aren't his thing.”

“Well what's the occasion?”

“I dunno,” Tails paused, “ I asked but all he said was that this was 'an important day to celebrate' and to come over in an hour or two.”

“Hmm,” Sonic hummed, thinking about what possible reason to celebrate there could be.

“So... um,” Tails paused, “ Do you want me to fire up the Tornado?”

Sonic looked at his friend with a smile on his face, “Sure, but I want to fly this time. It is my plane, after all.”

***Meanwhile***

Knuckles had been hard at work all day. He had found the perfect clearing in the jungle for the party and started setting up after Amy arrived to assist. All was going as was planned for this party. He stood looking at the set up, which was mostly complete, remembering the importance of this party. It had been exactly one year since Dr. Eggman had tried anything concerning the Chaos Emeralds, or the Master Emerald, or even world domination in general. Peace, it seemed, was attained, at least for the time being. So this celebration was to commemorate this event, in the hopes that peace would last for a while longer. Knuckles had been sure to invite everyone he was capable of (Blaze and Silver, being from a different dimension, of course made inviting them impossible). He even invited Mighty the Armadillo, who no one had seen for years due to his constant traveling. Knuckles smiled, for today, he thought, everyone would be truly happy.

“Hey... Knuckles,” Amy shouted from behind him, “Can I have some help hanging this banner?”

“Yeah sure,” Knuckles turned and ran to help Amy finish setting up.

***Elsewhere***

Shadow sighed, looking around his apartment in Station Square. It was a small three room apartment that had been furnished by GUN. He had only the bare necessities: a small television, a refrigerator stocked with past take-out meals, a couch that he slept on frequently, and a bed in which he hardly ever slept. The one most valuable item he had was a picture of himself, Maria, and Dr. Gerald Robotnik. He found it when he infiltrated Eggman's carrier two years ago. Though he had put his past behind him, he'd often look at this picture an reminisce about the old days, or at least all he could remember. But today he was just sitting alone on his couch, boredom lulling him to sleep when-

**RING RING * BUZZ BUZZ* RING RING * BUZZ BUZZ***

It was Shadow's cellphone, which was sitting beside him on the couch. He reached down and answered, “Hello?”

“Hey Shadow, it's Rouge.”

“Oh, hey!” Shadow snapped upright in anticipation, “ Has GUN called us out into the field?!”

“Sorry to tell you this, Shadow, but no,” Rouge replied in an apologetic tone.

It had been months since GUN had the need for field operatives, like the members of Team Dark. Shadow and Rouge had been assigned desk work, since they were no longer needed in the field. They both despised being shackled to their desks, but they still had jobs so they couldn't complain. Omega, unfortunately, had to be put into storage until his specific skill set was required.

“What do you need, Rouge,” Shadow sighed into his phone.

“ Knuckles just called me and wanted to invite you to his party, but he didn't have your number, so I told him I'd invite you.”

“Oh,” Shadow said, “I'll think about it, but there is no guarantee I will be there.”

“Oh... well I figured this would be an excellent chance for you to ride that motorcycle you love so much,” Rouge had a leading tone in her voice, “But if you don’t want to go...”

Shadow grinned, “I'll see you there.”

***Later***

“Where is everybody,” Knuckles thought to himself as he looked at his and Amy's hard work.

“Don't worry,” Amy said, seeing the distress on Knuckles face, “They'll be here.”

As if on cue Sonic appeared to the south of the clearing.

“Yo, Knux!” Sonic yelled to his friend.

“Sonic!” Amy cheered, running up and almost knocking over the blue hedgehog over with a hug.

“I told you we should have parked on the north side of the island,” Tails complained, coming out of the brush shortly after Sonic, “We would have been here much sooner.”

“We made it, didn't we,” Sonic said with a smile, Amy still clinging to him, “Uh, Amy?”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Amy apologized, giggling.

“Glad you guys could make it,” Knuckles said, cheerily taking his friends hands, “Can you believe it has been one year of peace?”

“Ooohhh,” Sonic let out, “So that's what this party is all about, huh?”

“Yep,” Knuckles smiled, “Can you think of anything better to celebrate?”

“Hey, Sonic,” Tails interrupted, a confused look on his face, “Look at the banner; 'One Year, No Incident',”

“Couldn't you have just said one year of peace or something like that?” Sonic questioned.

“Too cliché,” Amy and Knuckles replied in unison.

“Ooookay,” Sonic regretted even asking.

All of the sudden the voice of Vector the Crocodile rang out across the clearing, “Look out below!”

The group on the ground looked up to be greeted with all the Chaotix, even Mighty, parachuting down to the party.

“Wow!” Tails cheered, “What an entrance!”

The Chaotix touched down only moments later, at the edge of the clearing.

“Hey guys,” Knuckles waved to his former teammates, “How've you guys been?”

“Good, still plenty of people needin' help and work done, even with peace and all,” Vector smiled.

“How about you, Mighty,” Knuckles turned to the armadillo.

“Been traveling all around Mobius, meeting all sorts of people,” Mighty grinned, “Met some really nice folks.”

“Good, it's nice that-” Knuckles paused, “Do you hear that?”

It was what sounded like a small jet engine. Soon a small contraption rose above the clearing and began to descend. As it neared the ground it began to change shape, until all that was left was a motorcycle with a black hedgehog in the seat.

“Hey Shads,” Sonic said as Shadow powered down his “baby”.

“Hello everyone,” Shadow greeted in his usual cool manner.

“Wow!” Charmy squealed in awe, “He's... so... cool!”

Shadow stepped down off his large motorcycle, greeting his friends and rivals. He sat down near Tails, one of his closest friends out of the group, “How have you been Miles?” Shadow was among the few of Tails' friends who called him by his real name.

“Good,” the young fox smiled, “How's things been with GUN?”

“Well, I still have a job, so I shouldn't complain but...” Shadow paused, “Desk work is driving me mad.”

“Oh, come on now, Shadow,” Amy laughed as she walked past the two, “It can't be that bad.”

Shadow glared silently at Amy, as he hid a slight blush from his company. It was at this exact moment that Rouge, Cream, and Big entered the clearing from the north.

“Hey Knuckie,” Rouge said in her common, semi-seductive manner.

“Hrm, hmph,” Knuckles mumbled under his breath, a blush on his muzzle.

“ Hey, Tails look,” Sonic whispered, “Knucklehead's muzzle matches his fur.”

“Yeah,” Tails muffled a giggle.

“Thanks for inviting us, Mr. Knuckles,” Cream and her Chao smiled, “It is very nice to be here.”

“You're always welcome to visit, Cream,” Knuckles patted the little rabbit on the head.

“Hello, everyone,” Big said in his child-like voice.

“Good, everyone's here,” Knuckles reached over to a nearby table, picking up a glass, “Everybody grab a glass. Here's to One Year, No Incident!”

“Cheers!”

***Meanwhile, in some unknown location***

Two red, glowing eyes watched our heroes on a monitor as the party began. The monitor then was switched off, leaving only those two red eyes lighting the dark of the room.

“Those fools,” a robotic voice rang out from the darkness, “Soon they will know the power of Metal, the one and true Sonic!” Laughter filled the cavernous room, while Sonic and company partied a world away.

 

**[Episode 2] Revenant: Ghosts of the Past**

Two weeks had passed since the party at Angel Island. Shadow, once again, found himself alone in his small apartment, watching TV. It had been another uneventful two weeks, filled with the monotony Shadow dreaded the most. He and Rouge sat in neighboring cubicles, which only just made the torture bearable. Today had been just another boring day at the office. There he sat in silence, thinking, not really watching the TV.

The TV lit up vibrant colors, “Last time on Dragon Ball Z!” Suddenly there was a loud knocking at the door, startling the black hedgehog. Shadow turned off his TV and grunted, walking to the door.

“Who is it!?” He yelled through the thick door. There was no reply, so, with a sigh, he opened the door to find, “Maria?!”

There, untouched by time, stood a very alive Maria Robotnik. She smiled at him, “It's so good to see you, Shadow.”

“W-what,” Shadow sputtered, reaching out to the phantom, “This is impossible. Y-you can't be real.” Maria took his hand in hers. Shadow shuttered as years of memories flooded back, “I-I kept my promise, Maria,” Shadow sputtered through tears, “I kept my word.”

“Shadow,” She smiled, her eyes almost glowing, as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Maria,” he gathered himself, looking deep into her eyes, “How is this possible?”

“I don't really know,” her almost imperceptibly glowing eyes looking down on him, “But I'm glad to just be here... with you.”

“No,” He shrugged off her hand, “ You. . .you are a faker!”

“Shadow,” She giggled, “I'm as real as you are. Remember me...”

Shadow looked deep into her eyes. Something wasn't right, other than the fact that his best friend who had died so many years ago was right in front of him. He saw something deep within those eyes, something... off. “Who are you... really?” Shadow asked a smile on his face. Shadow reached for a gun hidden behind the door frame.

“What do you mean,” The doe-eyed girl asked.

“I know you aren't Maria,” he frowned, “I have a gun in my hand and I will shoot you if you do not give me a straight answer. So I will ask you one more time; who the hell are you?!”

“You fool,” Maria's voice morphed, her eyes glowing ever redder.

“No, it can't be!” Shadow yelled in denial. Mechanical laughter filled his ears, as the ultimate life-form was helpless against the mechanical menace.

Shadow fell to the floor with an impressive thud. He started up, a cold sweat on his brow. It had all been a horrible nightmare. He clambered back onto his couch, terror still holding his weary mind.

“It's been years since I had a nightmare like-” Shadow paused as he glanced at his cherished picture, a sudden realization hitting him, “The last time I had dream like that, very bad things happened.” The last time, he remembered, was when the Black Arms invaded the Earth. His bastard father, Black Doom, haunted his dreams until he sent him back to where he belonged. Something bad was going to happen, and Shadow knew it. He had to warn everyone, but he couldn't just base his accusations on nightmares. No, he needed to find evidence, and he knew just where to look. But first he would need Omega and Rouge, so he needed to find a way to get them out into the field... but he couldn't go through conventional GUN channels. No, he and Rouge would have to sneak Omega out of storage and they would have to do it tonight.

*** Meanwhile ***

Tails was at work modifying the Miles Electric, his personal computer. He had been cataloging years of confrontations with all the enemies they had encountered and programming it to use those past encounters to determine potential weaknesses to exploit; should the time come that they would need it. Sonic walked in right as Tails was cataloging Metal Sonic's entries.

“What you working on Tails?” Sonic inquired, looking over Tails' shoulder.

“I'm programming an application that will allow us to exploit our enemies' weaknesses,” Tails didn't look up, “Right now I'm programming Metal Sonic into the application.”

“You know we won't need that right,” Sonic stated cockily, “I've been able to handle them all so far. And with all my friends, well, I feel unstoppable.”

“Yeah, until Amy traps you in one of her patented hugs,” Tails laughed, “But, seriously, we need to be able to meet any threat and this will be instrumental in assisting us.”

“Ok, if you feel so strongly about it, buddy,” Sonic shrugged.

“Well I am almost done here,” Tails shook his head, “Eggman may be bad but Metal would be terrifying to go up against again.”

Sonic's cheery disposition darkened slightly, “I know what you mean buddy. He could actually hurt one of you guys. I may adventure a lot on my own, but without you guys... I'm afraid of what I would do.”

“What do you mean, Sonic?” Tails gave him a concerned look.

“There's another side of me Tails,” Sonic rubbed his arm, showing his discomfort, “A side that I don't really know anything about. All I know is that deep down I have a beast, a Dark Sonic... and that I will be an unstoppable superpower if one of you, well, you know. I don't want to hurt anyone Tails, and if I lost you guys... I'm just afraid I would hurt someone. I don't want that to happen...”

Tails looked at Sonic for a moment, stone faced. Then he burst out laughing, “Sonic,” he finally got out, “I know you too well and this... this... idea is completely unlike you. Sure everyone goes to a dark place from time to time but they always come back. And you- you're just to good of a guy to just go on a rampage, even given the harshest circumstances.”

Sonic gave him a weak smile,”I-” he cut himself off, smiling at his friend wholeheartedly now, “Thanks bud... it means a lot.”

“Sure, what are friends for?”

*** Later, outside GUN H.Q. ***

Shadow and Rouge had successfully snuck Omega out of the GUN ordinance and robot storage area (both Shadow and Rouge often joked that Omega was more ordinance than robot). They huddled around in a dark alley near the building as Shadow informed them of his plan.

“I know it sounds like a long-shot, but I know that Metal Sonic is planning something. I also know I may sound crazy, but if my nightmare's to be trusted I believe he is in some GUN facility from back when I believed Maria wished revenge on humanity.”

“Why do you believe that?” Rouge looked skeptical.

“Because they all were abandoned, due to large amounts of damage caused by Eggman and, unfortunately, myself,” Shadow scowled at himself, “And why else would she be in my dream...”

“This seems logical, though improbable,” Omega paused, “Dreams, or nightmares, are not valid data.”

“I know, but you both just need to trust me,” he pleaded, “We need to find out what Metal is up to so we can prepare. I believe the best place for us to look are the ruins of Prison Island.”

“Count me in,” Rouge put her hand on Shadow's shoulder.

“However illogical the data, I am 'in' too,” Omega stated in his robotic voice.

*** Meanwhile, in Metal Sonic's mystery lair ***

Metal sat in front of his monitors, watching as Team Dark set out in search for him, “Good,” he said almost cheerily, “Let the games begin.”

 

**[Episode 3] A Beast Beyond the Firelight, Part 1**

Shadow sat, thinking about everything that was going on, everything that was about to happen. It was dark in what was now known as the Seaside Hill area. The fire he built flickered and swayed with the breeze. He looked up to see a blank set of robotic eyes staring back at him.

“I thought you had powered down for the night, Omega,” Shadow said, poking the fire with a stick.

“No, I have only been “on” for half a day. I need to remain on for a whole day before powering down, or my data will corrupt,” the robot replied in his usual cold tone.

“Yeah, we wouldn't want that now, would we,” Rouge smiled stepping into the firelight.

“Where did you come from?” Shadow inquired, slightly surprised to see her awake.

“I went and walked along the beach, observed tomorrows destination, you know; the usual things one does when they can't sleep,” Rouge said sarcastically.

“How'd the Island look?” Shadow asked, still absent-mindedly poking at the fire.

“Deserted, overgrown with vegetation, nothing unusual,” Rouge sighed, “You know, even given the circumstances, it's great to be back out in the field.”

“Yeah,” Shadow gave a wistful reply, “Let's just hope we can handle this.”

*** The Next Day ***

After the day before, Sonic couldn't shake the strange feeling something was up. What he had told Tails troubled him. That... evil within him was just waiting for the opportunity to be released. He felt that a run in the mountains would clear his head, which is why he found himself a whole world away. He streaked around the mountains with his patented super-sonic speed. He stopped on one of the mountain peaks. He examined the mountains, a smile on his face. Then Sonic looked across one of the valleys. There stood what looked like another hedgehog, clad in a tattered cloak. The cool breeze swept across Sonic, making him shiver.

“Wonder who that could be?” Sonic pondered to himself, shading his eyes with one hand and leaning to try to get a better look. The figure turned around and just disappeared, as if he was never there, “What the...” Sonic sped over to the other peak, parkouring across boulders and weaving between trees. When he arrived at the peak there was no trace that anyone had been there, not even footprints.

“Guess it was my imagination,” Sonic shrugged and decided to run back to Tails' lab.

With a shimmer Metal emerged as if from mid-air. He watched as Sonic left a trail of blue in his wake.

“I could have ended you here,” Metal growled, “But I must wait for all the pieces to fall into place.”

*** Meanwhile, on the shore of Prison Island ***

“Rouge,” Shadow whispered loudly, “Any activity?”

Rouge was up in a tree, barely visible to the rest of Team Dark, “Some odd looking robots. They appear to be modified Buzz-Bombers and Moto-Bugs.”

“Child’s-play,” Shadow said pulling out his Chaos Emerald. Shadow hopped out of cover and charged the nearest Moto-Bug. He spin-dashed at the last possible minute, destroying the robot. A Buzz-Bomber behind him began to charge it's laser, but Shadow used Chaos Control to quickly move behind it. Using a chain homing attack Shadow took out the three remaining Moto-Bugs. All that was left were four Buzz-Bombers. With a grin he jumped and punted the first, drawing his gun during the kick. He fired three times and when he touched the ground the three remaining Buzz-Bombers exploded.

“Hmph, showoff,” Rouge smiled gliding down to Shadow's position.

“How was my time?” Shadow smiled.

“You defeated the inferior models in 2.5 seconds,” Omega stated emerging from the brush.

“A second slower than the average,” Shadow frowned, “Oh well, that was a good warm-up.” Shadow looked down at a gaping hole in a metal surface. Shadow flashed back, it was once where the large steel doors were. They had been blasted out after the carnage wrought by Eggman and himself. He walked towards the hole, peering further into the ruins. Other than the modified Badniks he'd just destroyed, it appeared deserted.

“What do you think Shadow?” Rouge asked.

Shadow turned to his team and smiled, “We wait.”

 

**[Episode 4] A Beast Beyond the Firelight: Part 2**

 

Sonic was in the restroom of Tails' lab. He didn't remember why he had come in here. In fact the day was a blank, as if nothing had happened... at all. Still there he stood, just staring at the mirror. He couldn't move, as if he was glued directly to that one particular spot. The lights in the restroom began to flicker, as a chill ran down Sonic's spine. He glanced down at his legs, which were still unmoving, and then redirected his gaze to the mirror. Horror filled the blue hedgehog at what he saw looking back. It was a dark form, completely eyeless and unmoving. It looked like him, save for the lack of features. He shuddered as it seemed to sway in sync with him. Then he heard the following:

“My, my,” a deep voice emanated from nowhere, “We have not seen each other for a while. You must be full of troubles to see me again.” Sonic went to answer but he couldn't speak. It was as if his mouth was locked shut. All he could do was grunt defiantly, confused as what was going on. “You don't remember me?” The voice chuckled, “How disappointing... of course you never truly had use of me, but you could never truly forget the inner you now could you?”. Sonic began to struggle, as a wave of realization came over him. “You talked about me only yesterday, but it took you this long to figure it out,” the voice genuinely sounded disappointed now, “I am the darkness, the destroyer; **I AM DARK SONIC!** ”. With this the figure in the mirror started to morph. It took on a color blue so dark one could have easily mistaken it for black. The muzzle was a dull gray, its eyes glowing a bright yellow. It smiled revealing very distinct fangs. Sonic shook in fear as it broke its sync with him in the mirror. Leaning on the sink it stared at Sonic, looking very pleased. “What do you think,” It chuckled as Sonic frantically tried to move to no avail, “The time nears when I will be released, I can feel it. Once I am free there will be no turning back. No I will be you, and you will cease to exist.” Sonic, now angry, managed to free a hand from his invisible bonds. He reared back as far as he could, punching the glass with great force. The voice chortled at the effort, peering back at Sonic through the shattered mirror, “Your anger only feeds me, you fool”. Sonic looked down at his gloved hand to see that several shards of glass had entered it. He managed to slip the glove off of his hand only to be greeted with the same gray skin of his doppelganger. “I will have your body... I will be you,” The doppelganger laughed maniacally. Sonic began to scream in pain as his body was engulfed in darkness.

Tails rushed into Sonic's room. He had been sleeping, until the blood-curdling screams began. Sonic was still asleep, but was violently shaking and screaming as if in great pain. Tails stood frozen, unsure of how to handle the situation. Tails went to shake Sonic, but the flailing hedgehog manged to knock him away. He looked at one of his hands, a look of resolve on his face. It was the only thing he could think of.

“Sorry, Sonic,” he managed to say, choking on the words. Tails hauled back and punched Sonic in the head as hard as he could. Sonic lay still, now completely unconscious. Tails quickly went downstairs and gathered the ingredients for a mild sedative, just in case this occurred again. As he was working, Sonic came downstairs, rubbing a large bruised bump on the side of his head.

“Oww,” Sonic moaned, collapsing into a chair, “What happened Tails?”

Tails blushed, embarrassed he hurt his friend so severely. He then looked at Sonic, “You were having some horrible dream. It seemed like you were in pain, so I,” Tails paused, taking a sharp breath, “I hit you as hard as I could.”

“Whaaaat!?” Sonic looked at Tails, a shocked look on his face.

“I tried to wake you by shaking you, first, but you were flailing so violently you knocked me away,” Tails replied , “Sorry about the bruise.”

“It's okay,” Sonic sighed, a worried look on his face.

“What's wrong,” Tails asked, noticing the worry on his friend's face.

“It's,” Sonic stopped himself, “Nothing, nothing at all.”

Tails could see that Sonic was clearly holding something back, however he didn't want to press the issue. He looked out a window to see the sun peeking over a hill.

***Elsewhere***

Rouge woke to see Shadow staring at the sunrise. They had returned to the original campsite at Seaside Hill for the night.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” Shadow asked, sensing Rouge's presence.

“Y-yeah,” Rouge replied, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Shadow never was one to express ideas of beauty, but he had come a long way in the last few years. Though he often came off harsh and cold, he really was a warm soul deep down.

“How about a run before we go scout the area?” Shadow asked, distance and admiration in his voice.

“Sure,” Rouge smiled, it was very seldom that the two friends did any bonding outside of work. It was a welcome change.

“We can talk while we run,” Shadow said, but with a questioning tone.

“I'll listen,” Rouge stood, adjusting her gloves.

*** A Few Minutes Later***

Rouge and Shadow were running side by side along the coast. It was a beautiful day, nary a clod in the sky.

“What did you want to talk about?” Rouge asked between breaths.

“I... uh,” Shadow blushed, “I was wondering what you thought of Ms. Rose.”

“Amy?” Rouge looked to see the uncomfortable look on Shadow's face, “ Oh... ooohhh. Um, well she's nice, but obsessive.”

“Do you think there's a chance-”

“No... not likely,” Rouge put a hand on Shadow's shoulder, stopping him, “She would have to realize that Sonic is a lost cause first. She is so blinded by the belief that he is the 'one' that it is not likely for you... and her... but, hey you never know.”

Shadow looked dejected, then suddenly resolved, “I just won't worry about it. I will wait and see what happens.”

The two took off back to the camp, as the sun began to reach it's highest point in the sky.

*** Tails' Lab***

Sonic was nursing his head with ice, as Tails was working on the Miles Electric again. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it. Suddenly a look of resolve crossed his face.

“It was him,” Sonic said softly.

“What?” Tails looked up.

“The reason you had to punch me was because of Him...” Sonic trailed off, “I was visited by Dark Sonic in a nightmare.”

“This again?” Tails asked, disappointment dripping from his tone, “You know that even if you are right, you are just to good to let that control you.”

Sonic looked at the floor. Maybe Tails was right, maybe that was really the truth. He looked up to see Metal Sonic, hovering behind Tails.

“Hello, heroes,” He said, making Tails jump in sheer terror, “Let's talk.”

 

**[Episode 5] New Problems, Old Enemy**

Sonic quickly stood in front of Tails, to protect him from anything Metal might do. The light playing off Metal's face almost made him look like he was grinning mischievously.

“What do you want?!” Sonic yelled at his robotic doppelganger. He felt his knees shake, as beads of sweat began to run down his muzzle. He was actually... afraid. In the past when he had faced his enemies he was always confident, but now... now something was different.

“As I stated before I only come to speak... no... to inform you of what is coming,” Metal Sonic's eyes never left Sonic, even when Tails ran outside. “You see I have been watching you and your... friends very closely for the past year, gathering data and creating new robots from the garbage that doddering old fool, Eggman, calls robots. Indeed I have even used the data I gathered to improve myself. It will be a miracle if you can even defeat me now. . .”

Sonic's voice shook as he choked out an insult, “I... I have beat y... you many times before, you fancy tin can. W-what makes you think this time will be any different?”

“Do I detect fear in the great adventurer's voice? You have every right to be afraid,” Metal chuckled, his red eyes glowing even stronger as he did so, “I have already taken care of the majority of your friends. The group that calls themselves the Chaotix is off pursuing a red herring I made for them to chase. Knuckles the Echidna has been captured, along with Amy Rose and her pathetic excuse for a 'team'.”

Sonic ground his teeth his fear turning to anger, “You had better not hurt them, you bastard!” Sonic's eyes flashed yellow for a moment, his skin and fur taking on a slightly darker color.

“All you have to do is stop me, if you can,” Metal laughed, “But once you see my new power, and that of my robots I'm afraid you will be able to stop nothing. In fact you will be quite dead.”

Sonic had a quick moment of realization, “Wait, you didn't say anything about Team Dark. What have you done with Shadow!?”

“Nothing... yet,” Metal shrugged with a chuckle, “But I assure you, they are also being taken care of...”

*** **Seaside Hill Zone, Team Dark Campsite** ***

Shadow and Rouge returned to the campsite at about sunset. Though the talk they had was short, they had ran so far that the time had caught up with them. Omega sat guarding the campsite. Shadow stopped just short of the campsite. Something felt... off. He looked around and saw nothing. He heard nothing but the breeze and the waves lapping on the shore. He turned as something appeared out of thin air. It swiftly deactivated Omega by hitting a hidden emergency kill-switch. It teleported to Rouge and knocked her out. He watched as two more came out of nowhere, teleporting away with Omega and Rouge. The one that had dispatched both of his teammates, came at Shadow. As it came closer Shadow could easily see what it was.

“Shadow... Android?” he whispered in a confused tone. He had fought others like it before but, he noticed that it was visibly different. It looked exactly like him, black and red, not the usual black and orange. He realized that he had to get away, so he quickly took out his Chaos Emerald and teleported away.

*****Back at Tails' Lab*****

“So here's the deal,” Metal said, “You will allow me to kill you and your friends live, guaranteed. Or... you and I can fight and there is no guarantee that they will live.”

“I will not let you win!” Sonic yelled his anger turning to confidence, “I will make sure your turned into scrap metal after this!”

“Find me at what remains of Prison Island,” Metal said moving towards the door, “I will be waiting.” Metal suddenly took off, faster than even Sonic could move. Sonic could still hear a faint laugh as he flew away, towards the Seaside Hill area.

“Sonic!” Tails yelled in earnest, running into the open lab door. A look of relief passed over his face as he entered, “Good he didn't hurt you.”

Sonic put on one of his signature cocky smiles, “An old rust-bucket like that? Hurt me? What are you talking about Tails?”

“Well he's not so “old” anymore. I scanned him while I was outside and all his hardware has been upgraded or changed completely.” Tails sounded worried, “I don't think we can exploit any of the weaknesses we could have if he had not... changed so much.”

“Well we have to rescue our friends, they are all in danger,” Sonic said, a sudden look of resolve on his face, “If that means doing this the hard way, then so be it.”

“Sonic... Tails?! Hello? Is anyone here?” A familiar voice rang from behind the house.

“Shadow?! Is that you?!” Sonic asked, happy to hear Shadow's voice.

Shadow came around the corner, a gash on his right arm. His left glove was stained red from holding the arm, but the bleeding seemed to have stopped. “We have a problem.”

Shadow explained what had happened with the new Shadow Androids. The one that had tried to attack him managed to put a significant gash in his arm before he was able to use Chaos Control. In turn Sonic and Tails told him of the rest of the predicament concerning Metal Sonic.

“I knew it,” Shadow said angrily, “I knew he was coming and I wasn't able to do anything about it!”

“Well from what we know I think it's safe to say Metal has upgraded his robots to be like he was a few years ago. They can take a good fight, translate the data, adapt, and transform on a whim,” Tails conjectured.

“Great! Just great!” Sonic yelled throwing his hands in the air in sheer anger. The frustration was building up inside him. All this was happening... so suddenly... it was more than he could take. He stomped over to a metal work bench in the corner and began to punch it furiously. “Why now?!” he screamed, eyes closed, as tears began to run down his face in anger and pain. He repeated this until his voice was but a hoarse whisper. He didn't realize that he had began to take on a darker tone in fur color and complexion. Then he raised his fist one final time and brought it down as hard as he could. His hand smashed through the thick table leaving a sizable hole. He leaned over, exhausted, as a hoarse whisper left his lips, “Peace ended like this... and all because of some maniacal robot I should have taken care of a long time ago. Why now... why like this?”

Tails had noticed the change in Sonic. He measured energy readings as Sonic's breakdown progressed. The power spike rivaled that of Sonic in his Super form. Shadow walked over placing his clean glove on Sonic's shoulder.

“It's okay, we can handle this,” He said to Sonic, “But you're going to have to get yourself together. Besides you can't leave Miles and myself to do this on our own. I may be the Ultimate Life-form, but even I know this wont be easy...”

Sonic was a little shocked, because this was the most humble he had ever seen Shadow. He looked at his old rival and smiled, “Okay lets do this,” he said in a confident, yet hoarse whisper.

Sonic took some time to come back to full composure. When he had regained his voice he decided to apologize for putting a hole in Tails workbench.

“It's okay, I have plenty more,” The two-tailed fox assured him. He looked at his... his brother. Tails had never had a family, but Sonic and his friends **were** his family. He was worried about all of them, but Sonic was... was right. There was something dark and powerful in him, and he knew that if something were to go wrong this... thing would likely consume him. All he could do was hope, as they all set out to rescue their friends... their family.

 

**[Episode 6]** **Chaotix Rumble** (Written by fanfiction.net Author, Key and Lock)

**A note from Nexter45: Hello I am the author of Sonic: Adventures of the Blue Blur. This is the first collaboration episode of the fic, written by Key and Lock (who you should go check out). This is also a filler episode (not really important to state but a heads up anyhow). I hope to work with other authors, and if you are interested in the lore of this universe and want to contribute, feel free to message me. So enjoy the first of hopefully many collaborative episodes of Sonic: AOTBB.**

“Sooo, can you remind me why we’re at a casino again?” Charmy asked as he floated above his companions.

“Because the owner of this casino reported some strange occurrences recently and he asked us to investigate,” Espio informed the young bee.

“You really need to pay more attention!” Vector said chastising his young coworker.

The three members of Chaotix Investigation were walking through a large casino. Actually “large” was an understatement. The entire place was enormous; all of the games, from slots to pinball were large enough for a person to run around on, which was the point, it was what made this place so popular since there was no other casino like it in the world.

Espio looked around at all of the attractions and people. The blinding lights and loud noises were irritating to him, but also familiar. “Have we been here before?” he asked, voicing his thoughts.

“Huh?” Vector mumbled. He looked around and put his hand on his chin. “Ya know, it does seem kinda familiar. Hmm,”

“Hey!” Charmy yelled in excitement. “Didn’t we do that job here when Eggman tricked us?”

The other two stopped in shock and looked around. “Crap, Charmy’s right!” Vector exclaimed. “But, wait a sec, last time wasn’t this place some sorta trap or something? I mean there were robots every trying to kill us. Now, it looks like a regular casino. Well a regular _giant_ casino,”

“That’s because when I bought this place I did some…remodeling,” A voice said from behind the group. They spun around, expecting trouble. “No need for trouble, I called you remember?” The voice belonged to a fox in black business suit. “I’m the owner of this establishment, Mr. Sly, we spoke on the phone” he said grinning.

“Oh yeah, well we’re Chaotix Investigation. I’m Vector, and these two are my partners Espio and Charmy,” Vector said shaking his new employer’s hand. “So, what seems to be the problem?”

“Well there seems to be some problems with Dr. Eggman’s robots,” Mr. Sly began.

“They're still here?” Espio questioned raising an eyebrow. “I would have thought getting rid of them would be the first thing to do,”

“It was the first thing I did, or at least it was the first thing I _tried_ to do. I thought they were all deactivated, but recently they’ve been coming out during the night and causing trouble. They never stay long, and usually my security can keep the damage contained, but it’s beginning to get out of hand. I’m hoping you can help me,”

“Leave it to us!” Charmy said. “We’ll take care of those waling scarp piles!”

“Yeah!” Vector agreed. “We’ll be done in no time too!”

“Ah, excellent, excellent. Well, if you need me, I’ll be in my office. Good luck,” And with that he turned and left.

“Well, what now? Should we split up?” Espio asked.

“Nah, we should probably stick together,” Vector replied. “This place is so big, if something happens to one of us we might not notice,”

So the three investigators searched all over the casino for any sign of Eggman’s previous work, however, they found very little for several hours. Finally the three started to get frustrated. “Arggh! This is driving me crazy!” Charmy yelled. “We’ve been looking for hours and we haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary! Where are all of the robots!”

“Ya know what? I agree with ya Charmy,” Vector said. “We haven’t seen a single bolt from one a Eggman’s toys, and I’m starting to think there might not be any of them left!”

“Then why call us in the first place?” Espio asked. “Something is defiantly wrong here, I can feel it,” He glanced around looking for any sign of trouble.

“I’m telling ya Espio, nothing is out of the ordinary here,” Vector said, trying to convince his more serious friend. “There ain’t a single robot here, and I doubt there’s one around for miles!” Vector, who had been walking in front of his friends, turned around to face them. At that moment several of Eggman’s robots burst through the wall and began to wreck the place. “…Not a word from either of you,”

The three friends launched themselves at the enemies. Charmy took to the skies and began to fly around the Buzz Bombers, disorienting them and causing them to fire on each other. While dodging their fire he rammed into one of them and sent it crashing to the ground.

Meanwhile, Espio was dashing through a group of Moto-Bugs lashing out with vicious kicks and punches. One of the Badniks tried to run him over from behind, but he noticed it coming and jumped over it letting it crash into a wall. Turning around he noticed several more coming towards him, smirking, he drew a shuriken and threw it at the gang of robots. As it drew closer to its target the shuriken grew in size until it was nearly two feet across, it sliced through the Badniks and returned to Espio’s hand.

Vector took a more direct approach to dealing with his foes. He charged straight into one knocking it away. He lashed out with both hands, right first followed by his left, turning two more Badniks into scrap. A fourth one tried to rush him head on, but a quick chomp from Vector’s bear trap like jaws showed why that was a bad idea. “Ha, these things are as weak as I remember!” Vector boasted.

“Yeah!” Charmy agreed as he buzzed around. “These guys are e-Yow!” Suddenly a blast struck Charmy from behind and sent him crashing to the ground.

“Hold on Charmy!” Vector yelled as he dived to catch his friend. “Gotcha! Are you alright little buddy?”

“Haheh, I see stars,” Charmy giggled.

“Look out!” Espio warned. “We’ve got trouble!” Even more Badniks had appeared, this time with several humanoid robots with them. Espio dashed forwards, hoping to draw their fire away from his downed friend, he hurled his giant shuriken at one in front of him, and slapped two small disks on two other robots coming towards him. He flipped backwards catching his shuriken as the disks detonated destroying the two bots.

Vector was having less luck, with one arm holding Charmy his fighting ability was hindered, but that didn’t stop him from trying. He shoved his arm through the robotic skull of an Egg Pawn and knocked a Moto-Bug back with a lash from his tail. Still, despite his best efforts he was slowing down, and getting hit more and more often. He was about to call out for Espio to help when he was knocked through the air, he managed to right himself and slide to a stop near Vector, but he was clearly winded. “Huff, huh, things aren’t looking so good,” Vector gasped, as the Badniks surrounded the team.

“Don’t tell me…you’re…giving up,” Espio said between breathes.

“Heh, huff, not on your life,” Vector said, managing a small grin. “Our reputation would be ruined if we were beat by a buncha toy soldiers,”

“Heh, agreed. So what’s the plan?” Espio asked as readied himself for another round.

Before Vector could answer a red and black blur smashed into several of the robots, sending their parts scattering, as the figure came to a stop in front of the three friends. “You guys need a hand?” the figure questioned.  
  


“What the- Mighty!?” Vector yelled, surprised to see his old friend. “What are you doing here!?” Before Mighty could reply several more Badniks surrounded the group.

“Why don’t we discuss this later? Are you guys up for another round?” Mighty asked.

“Oh yeah!” Charmy who just recovered from his previous injury and was eager for revenge, the others nodded also ready finish off the Badniks and finish the job. “Let’s go!” Charmy shouted as he took off once more buzzing around the flying robots, although this time he was much more aggressive ramming into them and taunting them to attack him. “Ha ha, missed me, missed me,” Charmy sang as one of the Buzz Bombers’ attacks destroyed one of its allies. Another one fired at Charmy from behind, only this time he was ready he flew up and dodged the attack, before he dived at the enemy and rammed his stinger through its head.

Vector, meanwhile, was making up for his previous performance by lashing out with his whole body, arms, legs, tail, and jaw were all a green blur as he smashed his way through a herd of robots. He grabbed two Badniks and slammed them together as his tail knocked another’s head off.

Mighty was also breezing through his targets, his speed and strength were both valuable assets as he appeared in the middle of a group of Egg Pawns. He smashed his fist through one of the Badniks and spin dashed away to get some room before turning around and crashing into the rest. He landed next to Vector, helping him deal with the Badniks surrounding him. “Hey, I thought you were a pacifist,” he joked as he looked at the armadillo.

“While I do hate violence against people, but I find that violence against robots is frowned on much less” Mighty replied smiling. “Say, where’s Espio?”

Suddenly, they heard him yell “Ninja Art: Everywhere Shuriken!” The group looked up and saw Espio spinning in midair as shuriken rained down on the Badniks destroying all that remained. “Hmph, I guess they weren’t that tough after all,” he said cockily. Vector walked up behind his stealthy friend and smacked him on the head.

“Why didn’t you do that sooner!?” he yelled at Espio.

“Ow, I couldn’t do that with all of the flying ones, I needed Charmy to thin them out first.” Espio replied while rubbing his head.

“So I saved everyone? Yes!” Charmy yelled excitedly.

“That’s…one way to look at it.” Espio said, shaking his head at his young companion. “So Mighty, why are you here?”

“Yeah, I was wondering that too,” Vector said turning to the peaceful armadillo.

“Well, you know how I’ve been traveling lately? I passed through a nearby city here and made a few friends. One of them works here and asked me if I could help deal with their robot troubles.” Mighty explained. “I should have guessed they were Eggman’s.”

“We were surprised as well.” Espio said.

“Yeah, do ya think this means he’s coming back?” Charmy asked.

“I doubt it; I mean no one has seen him in a year.” Vector said looking around for any more Badniks. “Still, we can’t be sure, so I say we look around and find out where these things are coming from. And if it is old Egghead then we’ll teach him a lesson!”

“Right!” the others yelled. The immediately began to search for any clues and before too long they found a lone Badnik obviously damaged and retreating. “Ha, looks like you missed one Espio,” Vector chuckled. “Let’s see where it’s going.”

It didn’t take long for the group to come to what appeared to be an abandoned factory. The Badnik slipped in, and after waiting a moment Chaotix (and Mighty) followed it in. The factory was large, but it did appear to be abandoned there was no signs of life or activity and everything looked worn and rundown. Even stranger, despite the fact that the room was relatively empty the Badnik was nowhere to be seen.

Charmy looked around confused for a moment “Hey, where’d it go?” Suddenly lights turned on and focused on the group. The floor opened up and a platform rose up. And on the platform was a giant spider like Badnik.

“…So, anyone else think this is a trap?” Mighty asked, immediately all three of the Chaotix team members raised their hands. “Good. . . it’s not just me.”

“Well what are we waitin’ for? Let’s scrap this tin can and finish this job!” Vector said as he charged towards the robot.

“Yeah! Let’s get it!” Charmy yelled as he and the others rushed after Vector, only for them all to be tossed aside one at a time. Vector was first, once he was close to the Badnik he jumped in the air to deliver a two handed smash, only to be hit by one of the legs causing him to fly into Charmy. Espio was next, he had attempted to sneak up behind it, but it seemed to notice and it leapt up, creating a shockwave when it landed, knocking the stealthy member of Chaotix back. Mighty lasted the longest, he managed to dodge the first few swipes, but he was unprepared for it to fire a cannon out of its mouth.

“Okay, that did not go as planned.” Vector grumbled as he sat back up.

“We had a plan?” Charmy asked. “I thought we were running in like idiots and hoped for the best like usual.”

“Well, if someone does have a plan, feel free to share it.” Mighty said as he readied himself for another run at the monstrosity.

“I have one,” Espio said. “I just need you to distract it for a bit.” The others nodded in agreement and charged for their target.

Mighty ran beneath the robots legs, keeping it from lashing out at his friends, while Charmy buzzed around the head forcing the robots cannon to focus solely on him. Vector made use of his allies’ distractions by retreating and gathering pieces of scrap metal to throw at the robot. “Any time now Espio!” Vector yelled to his friend.

Espio, meanwhile, had run up the wall behind the giant Badnik and leapt into the air above the metal monstrosity. “NOW!” he yelled. “Ultimate Secret Ninja Technique! Great Blazing…“that was as far as he got because while he was preparing his attack the spider Badnik raised a leg and swiped him into a wall. All of the others sweatdropped at the failure of Espio’s so called “Ultimate Attack”

“Great job Espio,” Vector deadpanned. “That really did the trick.”

“Well, I don’t suppose either of you have a plan, preferably one THAT WILL WORK!” Charmy said, yelling the last part to Espio’s unconscious form.

“Yeah,” Mighty said glaring at his target. “We hit it…hard.”

“Heh, subtle, elegant, I like it.” Vector said grinning. “So, let’s go!” Vector charged straight forward, Mighty and Charmy followed right behind. When the Badnik swung one of its long legs at Vector he latched on to and held it in place, although it clearly strained him greatly. “Mighty break this thing! Charmy grab Espio and get him somewhere safe!” Although he couldn’t see if they were following his plan, Vector trusted his friends to follow through, and his trust was well placed. Mighty smashed through the leg joint with a double handed smash and Charmy veered over the Badnik and grabbed Espio from where he fell.

The robot was knocked off balance from the missing leg, and Vector capitalized on this by swinging the remains of the leg at its owner’s head, destroying the gun placed there. “Mighty! Finish this thing off!”

“You got it!” Mighty said as he rolled in a ball and spin dashed into the Badnik, straight through the damaged face and out of the back; bursting through a newly made hole. “That should do it.”

*** Later ***

 

After receiving their payment from Mr. Sly, the Chaotix were talking with Mighty. “Thanks again fer ya help Mighty.” Vector said.

Espio nodded in agreement. “We could not have done it without you.”

“Ya, especially since you got knocked out so easily!” Charmy taunted his ninja friend. Espio grumbled and looked away.

“Not a problem, but what now?” Mighty asked. “This might not be an isolated incident, what if more of Eggman’s bases come online?”

“You mean like a fail-safe or something?” Espio asked.

“Something like that,” Mighty nodded. “We have to do something, make sure no one else has to deal with Eggman’s Badniks again.”

“Hm, I agree,” Vector said. “No one should have to deal with that lunatic ever again. So, team our new mission is to track down all of Eggman’s old bases and make sure they can’t be used again!”

“Yeah! Let’s go trash some robots!” Charmy said. “Oh, but shouldn’t we let Sonic and the others know about this?”

“Nah, let them enjoy their rest, we can handle this.” Vector said. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Right!” the others yelled as they followed the Vector out of the Casino.

None of them noticed the metallic figure watching them leave. “Haha, it looks like those fools will be busy for quite a while, and Mighty will be gone as well. It’s only a matter of time now. Hmm, I suppose I should take care of the other fools. Muhahahaha!”

 

**[Episode 7] The Beast Revealed**

 

*****2 Years Ago, Eggcarrier Fleet*****

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were standing on a platform outside the Eggcarrier. In front of them was the monstrosity, Metal Madness. Just seconds before Neo-Metal had revealed his plans to all the Teams. Team Rose, Dark, and Chaotix had split off to distract this new form of Metal Sonic. Sonic grabbed one of the Chaos Emeralds he had stashed away. He closed his eyes, concentrating. The other Emeralds began to float away from him as immense energy began to circle him.

“We got this,” Knuckles said confidently as an aura surrounded him.

“Yeah, all we need is the power of teamwork!” Tails exclaimed as a similar aura surrounded him as well.

“All right, we're...” Sonic began to say as he began to float off the ground, his quills now a brilliant gold. The others joined in as they began to take off, “Sonic Heroes!”

Three brilliant auras, orange, red, and gold, sped off at incredible speed towards the behemoth. They clashed with Metal Madness, until his power began to drop. The monster started swinging its arms, with which Team Sonic collided it. They were able to force them back with their power. Tails and Knuckles hung back as Sonic sped towards Metal in one last move, striking him hundreds of times in a split second. The behemoth began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller until all that was left was a small robot. Metal was back to his original form. Sonic landed near him, reverting to his original state. Sonic smiled as the other Teams arrived and began to celebrate. He turned to Metal, a cocky grin now plastered on his face. “Tell me when you want a rematch,” Sonic said smugly, running off, Amy hot on his heels.

***  **Present, 50 miles from Seaside Hill** ***

Sonic's brow was furrowed, a look of anger on his face as he ran. He had been thinking about past victories against his enemies, and his own sheer stupidity. He had often dragged his friends into conflict without second thought, letting them into harms way while he “played hero”. This past year had allowed him to think about how reckless he really was, and now this was all the more proof of the fact. He let Metal just walk away. One of his worst enemies, left to live another day. He grimaced, “Why... why just let him go. I didn't have to  **kill** him, but why just let him go,” he thought. His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, sharp pain. The pain was enough to set his teeth on edge. He stopped next to a tree and clutched his stomach, the pain making him want to throw up. Tails stopped near him, a worried look on his face.

“Sonic, are you alright?” Tails asked, putting his hand on Sonic's back, leaning in to hear him better.

“Right... hand... hurts,” Sonic gasped through clenched teeth. Tails, very carefully, slipped Sonic's glove off his right hand. It was a bright shade of red, quite swollen, and some of the joints seemed out of place. Sonic had broken his hand.

“Okay, I can help you, but it will not be immediate,” Tails said, reaching to the tool-belt on his waist, “I will have to set all the joints, wrap your hand. I also have a special salve, which contains powerful pain-killers. Just hold as still as possible while I do this.”

“Okay,” Sonic gasped sharply as Tails began to set and wrap Sonic's mangled right hand. Shadow stepped out from behind a tree, smirking as the blue hedgehog gasped in pain.

“Could be worse... you could have shattered your arm.” he smirked as Sonic gasped in pain.

*** **Prison Island, Metal's Lair** ***

Amy was sitting in one of the cells of the former prison. The gray walls and black iron bars were oppressive, which, coupled with intense darkness, made Amy feel... sad. Where were her friends? Where was Sonic? She shook her head, “Think positive Amy, have to think positive,” she said out loud. Her voice echoed around the halls of the facility. Then, very faintly, she heard something.

“Amy... i-is that you?”

Amy stood quickly to her feet, running over to the bars. She pressed her face against them, talking as loudly as she could, “Cream... Cream is that you? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I'm okay. Where are we? It's so dark, I-I'm scared.”

Amy heard faint sobbing. She smiled, glad Cream was safe, at least. “Listen, Cream,” She said with resolve, “We will be fine. I'm sure someone is looking for us.”

At this moment a monitor across the hall flicked on, along with a few lights in Amy's cell. She shielded her eyes as they adjusted to the bright light. As they focused back she saw Sonic on the monitor. He had a serious look on his face, almost angry. “Sonic!” Amy exclaimed, “I knew you'd come.”

“Amy,” Sonic said, his voice sounding distorted and deep, “I think it will be good for you to stay there for a while.”

“What do you mean?” the pink hedgehog asked, confused.

“You are always dragging me down,” Sonic said in an accusing tone, “Why wont you just leave me alone?!”

“Sonic, you don't understand, Metal Sonic-,”

“SHUT UP!” Sonic yelled, “I don't care. Now I'm free of you, so just save me the guilt trip. Metal hasn't shown his face for two years, anyway. Lies like that are why I always run from you. Trying to get me to stick around, to 'marry you'. Well I've had enough!”

Amy started crying at this point. Sonic smiled his features changing, a maniacal, robotic laugh began to fill Amy's ears. She looked up angrily at the monitor, tears still in her eyes, “You bastard! Why did you do that?!”

“Well, well, well, aren't we frisky,” a robotic chuckle emanated from the speaker, “I was just toying with you. Your other friends seemed about as amused as you did. To bad Sonic wont be around much longer to save you anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Amy growled, wiping her eyes, “And who else is here?”

“Well let me answer the second question first, by showing you.”

The monitor flashed images of similar cells each containing someone different. The first was Cream, who was sobbing in a corner. Next was Big, who was scratching his head, confused. Knuckles was after Big. He was slamming his fists against the heavy bars, trying to escape, but to no avail. Last was Rouge and Omega. Rouge was looking at a panel on the back of Omega, who had been deactivated, clearly trying to reactivate him. Amy was shocked. A majority of her friends had been captured by Metal. This show of power had her very worried.

“So what did you mean by 'Sonic wont be around much longer'?”

Metal flicked back on the screen, “I told him I would kill him here today. If he comes quietly I will guarantee your safety. However, if he tries to do anything-”

The screen switched to and image of a lone Moto-Bug in a cell. The walls began to slowly move, dust falling as the cracks widened. The walls closed quickly, crushing the Moto-Bug in under four minutes.

“You see, the cells are all placed just far enough apart that even if I fail, at least one of you will die,” Metal laughed as the screen cut to black.

Amy fell to her knees, one hand grasping the bars of the cell, the other curled into a fist on the ground. Down the hall Cream heard faint sobbing.

*** **Meanwhile** ***

Sonic, Tails, and Shadow were running through the forest at breakneck speeds, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Sonic looked at his now wrapped hand as he ran. It had been so badly mangled that it took Tails almost an hour to re-set the joints and bones. The excruciating pain had made him throw up twice, but as soon as the morphine salve kicked in all he felt was a numbness in his hand. Tails had said the numbness would wear off by the time they made it to Seaside Hill. The trees began to disperse slowly, as the grass changed to sand. The area began to open up more and more until they made it to the shore.

“Okay,” Shadow grunted, sliding to a stop, “We only have a little way to go before we get there. Do we have a plan?”

“There's no telling what modifications Metal has made to the facility,” Tails said, gesturing to a schematic on the Miles Electric, “We are going to have to go in blind.”

“Fine, lets go,” Sonic huffed, frustrated by the situation.

*** **Knuckles' Cell** ***

Knuckles was still beating furiously on the bars of his cell. He could feel his hands bruising with each hit on the bars, but his anger was boiling over. Metal had more or less pulled the same trick on Knuckles that he had on Amy, so his anger was understandable. He stopped beating on the bars after a while, exhausted. As he sat panting on the ground he heard a faint noise down the hall.

“Come on you bucket of bolts, turn on.”

“Rouge... Rouge is that you!” Knuckles yelled between breathes.

“Knuckles?” Rouge asked as she stopped working on Omega.

“Yeah, it's me,” He smiled, happy to hear her voice, “How are you holding up?”

“Fine, just trying to get Omega working again,” She flew to the bars, “How about you?”

“Tired from trying to bust out of here,” he panted.

“Trying to get out with our fists, are we?” Rouge laughed.

“No,” Knuckles blushed, “Well... maybe. . .”

“Don't worry to much, I'm sure Sonic and Shadow will get us out of here.”

“Yeah, I sure hope so...”

*** **Prison Island Exterior** ***

Sonic looked down into the opening to the facility. It was dark, like no light could escape. He jumped in first, landing in what appeared to be an empty gray hallway. Tails and Shadow soon followed suite, landing next to Sonic. Tails activated the flashlight function on the Miles Electric so the could look around. The hallway was blocked behind them, so the only way to go was forward. They walked cautiously onward, passing empty cells all along the way. Soon they came to a large open room. The lights flickered to life as they entered, revealing five Shadow Androids. Two were blocking a path to the right, one straight ahead, and the other two blocked a hallway to the left.

“Good, so you're finally here,” Metal's voice echoed in the room, crackling from an old PA system, “Now you will have to face these five Androids, then choose a path. That is if you can defeat them at all.”

The Androids came to life springing upon the group. The group spin dashed away, just as the Androids were almost on top of them. Shadow jumped out of the spin dash, and pulled his gun on the nearest Android to him. He pulled the trigger on the pistol, nailing the Android in it's face. As it fell, Sonic was running behind two other Androids, taunting them to keep their attention. He took a leap forward, unexpectedly, and kicked the first unsuspecting Android into the second. Tails was flying around the tall room, working on a small device. He fiddled with it, yelling at the two remaining Androids to keep their attention. He dropped it after a couple of seconds. A pulse went out, and the Androids fell to the floor.

“What was that?” Shadow asked Tails, as the fox landed.

“EMP,” Tails replied, “I made it using the Miles Electric, and the field only deactivated the robots in this room and the EMP was one time use only.”

“Okay,” Sonic said, dusting off his legs, “We need to split up. I will take the path straight ahead. Tails, you go right. Shadow you go left.”

The group split up, going down their assigned paths. As Sonic ran down the path straight ahead he came back on a monitor where Metal was.

“That's right, come straight to me, Sonic,” He laughed, “I have something I want you to see.”

Metal looked at the monitor for Big's cell, the glint from the monitor giving a devious smile to his lifeless face.

 

**[Episode 8] A Turn For the Worse**

 

Shadow sped down the left hallway, steadily gaining greater speed as he skated with his hover shoes. Cells blurred past him as bad thoughts began to come to his mind. Was his team safe, and what about the others? What. . . what about Amy? He shook his head, as if to shake off the thoughts. Thinking like that worried him. He wasn't one to let people close, because he had been burned so many times. So many friends either dead, or just gone. Surrounded by those he loved one moment, then destroying the world with a homicidal maniac the next. He smiled at this thought. He'd certainly come a long way since those days. Now he was an important member of society, living in an apartment of the very city he sought to destroy, among the very people he sought false revenge upon. He grinned even wider, chuckling. He didn't know why it was funny, but it was.

“I wonder what Amy,” the smile melted off his face, stopping himself and halting running, “I wonder what she would say if she saw me like this...”

He looked up at the long hall before him, stretching on for what seemed infinity. His anger began to boil over, at the whole situation. He grasped at his Chaos Emerald, almost trying to crush it in his hands. His teeth stuck together, as a growl left his throat. He looked up again, throwing the Emerald in the air and catching it.

“Chaos Control!” he bellowed, the world turning into an unrecognizable gray streak around him. He needed to search as much of the facility as he could in as little time as possible. His heightened senses and increased speed would aid in his efforts. He rocketed down the halls, fueled by a slew of emotions.

*****Meanwhile*****

Tails was at full tilt, his twin tails propelling him forward down the right hallway. Cells moved past him quickly. He frantically looked into each one as he passed, hoping to find one of his friends. He pulled a small electronic device out of a pouch on his belt. The prototype of the Miles Electric 2, a smaller, even more portable version of the Miles Electric which he had destroyed by converting it into an EMP charge. He flicked to a map that was actively being created, via sonar pings. A straight hallway was all that had been mapped, with the small rooms being marked along either side of the hall. He put the ME2 back into the pouch with a sigh. All indications were that, indeed, all he had to do was go straight. He blasted off, putting an extra bit of speed into his tails, still looking into the cells as he passed.

*****Elsewhere*****

Sonic cringed as a small pain shot through his broken hand. The painkillers were wearing off, and the intense pain was almost unbearable. He kept thinking about all his mistakes, this broken hand being the most recent. He had let all his enemies go, with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. He even challenged them to do it all again, and Metal was the most recent example. Now he was letting his emotions take over, which resulted in his broken hand. He felt stupid, and that stupidity made him angry. His anger swelled in him, but he managed to stay calm, out of fear of what could happen. Far down the hall he saw lights flickering, towards which he sped, frustration at himself propelling him forward.

*****Meanwhile*****

Shadow had calmed down and slowed his pace considerably. The cells were now distinguishable from one another, and he began to wonder just how far he had went. It wasn't often he had to just go straight, and with Chaos Control he had most likely went over a mile. There were no corners to turn, just a straight gray hall with iron bars on either side. Then he heard faint talking up ahead. 

“Come on, turn on you big hunk of scrap!”

“It's no use Rouge, you might as well wait for the rescue crew.”

“Well I surely can't just sit here and do nothing, Knuckles.”

First Shadow passed Rouge's cell. She was covered in grease from crawling around inside Omega trying to get him running. She ran to the bars, putting out a hand, “Shadow, am I glad to see you!”

“Same to you, Rouge,” Shadow shook her hand, “I'm going to get you out of here. Hey Knuckles how are you holding up?!”

Knuckles waved a large gloved hand out from between the bars of a cell up ahead, “Good, all things considered.”

Shadow began to concentrate energy into his hand. Alarms began to sound, causing Shadow to stop suddenly. He turned a full 180 to see a Shadow Android only inches from his face. It's hand turned into razor sharp claws, and it reared back to strike. Shadow used Chaos Control to get behind it, causing it to miss and get its claws stuck in the ground. He was beginning to feel the fatigue of repeatedly using Chaos Control, but he still was able to conjure a Chaos Spear. The Android freed itself and turned to look at Shadow. The Android didn't even attempt to dodge as the Spear of energy tore it apart. Suddenly a blue energy field surrounded him. He cringed as a shock of pain hit him, knocking him to the floor.

“My dear Shadow, it seems your energy set off my trap,” Metal's voice came from the nearby monitor, “You see if you cause an energy spike, you will be caused harm. A large enough spike could, in theory, kill you.”

“Y-you bastard,” Shadow coughed as he stood up, “You'll pay for th- aghh ahhhhh!”

Shadow writhed on the floor as pain shot into him. He felt light-headed, trying to hang onto consciousness. As the pain subsided he laid there, barely conscious and drained of all energy.

“Check your temper, you wouldn't want to die like that, now would you?” Metal laughed.

“You're gonna pay for this!” Rouge yelled, tears in her eyes, “You evil bastard!”

“Yeah what she said!” Knuckles yelled.

“And what are you going to do about it?” Metal laughed, the monitor flicking off.

***Meanwhile***

Tails had been running for what seemed hours. He was now sitting, leaning next to the iron bars of a cell for support. He was panting and listening for signs of anyone. He heard a small murmuring up ahead. Tails strained to make out what it was, but couldn't. He pulled out the Miles Electric 2 and plugged in a pair of headphones activating a long distance sound reconnaissance appliction.

“I-I hope Mr. Sonic comes soon.”

“Its okay, I'm sure he's coming. He has never let us down before!”

Tails could tell it was Cream and Amy, but they sounded upset. He quickly stood to his feet, putting up his ME2, and ran down towards them. Amy was sitting in her cell, still leaning against the bars. She had clearly been crying, because her eyes were red and the floor was marked with stains. Tails skidded to a stop and got on his knees next to Amy's prison.

“Amy, what's wrong?” Tails placed a hand on Amy's clenched fist.

She looked up slowly, her face void of emotion, “He said that one of us was going to die...”

Tails looked at her, confused, “Weren't you just reassuring Cream a few seconds ago?”

“It was just a front,” She replied, almost choking on her words, “I-I am really scared.”

“It's okay, let me get you both out of here.” Tails smiled, pulling out a laser from his belt, “Before I start, let me just disable those cameras.”

***Elsewhere***

Sonic arrived at the end of the hall to see monitors lining the wall. On a platform in front of them was Metal, turned away, examining his handiwork. In front of the monitors showing his friends' cells were large buttons, marked with the names of those who occupied them. One cell was in the room, that of Big the Cat's. He was asleep in the corner of the cell, looking quite peaceful despite the situation.

“You've finally arrived,” Metal said, still facing the monitors, “This is our rematch, but I am holding all the cards this time. You have to do what I say, or no one will walk out of here alive. I spent these past years, upgrading myself, watching you and your friends. You all grew so. . . complacent, with only one year of peace. That was a fatal error, for which you shall now pay.”

Sonic looked down, a sad look on his face. He clenched a fist and looked back up. He spoke in a low, defeated tone, “What do you want from me?”

Metal turned, the reflection from a monitor almost making a devilish grin cross Metal's face, “You have a choice, only one of your friends has to die.”

“What?!” Sonic stepped back, looking appalled at the thought.

“All you have to do is press a button, and they will die. You will suffer the shame of not being able to save them and I. . . I will finally prove myself to be the one, true Sonic!”

***Meanwhile***

Shadow stood up slowly and turned to Rouge, “I think I have an idea on how to get us all out of here. It's risky, but it's all we got.”

“What do you have in mind?” Rouge asked, eyes red from earlier.

“I Chaos Blast us out of here.” Shadow said with confidence.

“What?!” Rouge and Knuckles exclaimed.

“Shadow, couldn't that kill you? I mean, didn't you hear what Metal said?” Knuckles asked.

“It's a risk I am willing to take,” Shadow said grimly, “Just promise me Rouge. . . promise me that you will tell Amy. . . if I don't make it. . .”

“Of course,” Rouge said in an understanding tone.

“Okay here it goes,” Shadow sighed. Shadow began to focus energy from his Chaos Emerald. He began to feel intense pain, but he pushed through and continued to build up energy.

***Observation Chamber***

“I wont, I. . . I can't,” Sonic said, “You can't make me do this.”

“Do you want them all to die?!” Metal laughed, “Because that can be arranged.”

“No don't. . . please.” Sonic pleaded.

Sonic looked at the monitors, discomfort lining his face. He weighed options in his head, getting more and more angry by the minute. Then the monitors cut out.

“What the. . ?” Metal sounded confused.

Sonic was fuming now, “What did you do?! What did you do to my friends?!”

A dark aura began to surround Sonic, as anger over took him. His quills began to darken slightly and his skin turned an unnatural gray. He doubled over, a growl of pain leaving his lips. He looked up, one of his eyes now glowing yellow, and tears in the other, “You're going to pay! You bastard. . . you're going to pay!”

 

**[Episode 9] Never Poke a Caged Animal**

Sonic's words hung in the air, the sound of static coming from the monitors only just masking the deafening silence. Sonic looked down as the tears fell from his eyes. The concrete soaked up the tears, leaving only dark stains on the floor.

“I don't now what this is,” Metal laughed, “But your attempt to strike fear into me falls on deaf ears. This really is a pitiful display”

Sonic's body began to shake as the rage continued to consume him. The aura he was emitting grew in intensity and size, making the hallway behind him look like a black hole. The bandages on his hand fizzled away, his hand remarkably healed. The solid concrete floor buckled under his fist, creating a dent in the floor. The concrete cracked under him, as if a great weight was suddenly placed on him. Small pieces of rubble flew up as the concrete cracked and buckled. He settled in a small crater where the floor had ceased to give.

“Interesting,” Metal said, as he pulled up the energy reader in his OS. He stood still as the gauge went up. It passed levels that he had never seen before. He took a step back on the platform, shocked, “How?! Your readings are higher than both your Super and Hyper forms combined! What. . . what are you!”

“That's cute,” Sonic chuckled, his voice now deep and distorted, “I didn't know you'd been programmed to fear.” Sonic looked up, revealing his yellow eyes and evil grin. Everything about him seemed. . . off, “You ask what I am? Well I am Dark Sonic and. . .” He disappeared in that moment and reappeared in front of Metal. His eyes glinted as he leaned in, evil smile still plastered on his face, “I'm your worst nightmare.”

Metal engaged his boosters and aimed himself for an overhead vent. He took off at super-sonic speeds, blasting his way out of the roof of the facility. Dark Sonic stepped under the vent and looked up at Metal, who was looking down to keep tabs on his pursuer. Dark Sonic's grin widened and he vanished suddenly. Metal kept looking down as the part of the island that covered the room he was just in exploded. All the debris flew out, some making it as far as the Seaside Hill shore, which was well over a mile away. The room was empty save for Big the Cat, who was still asleep in the corner of the room. Metal then looked up, greeted with the sight of Sonic, staring down at him, that awful, evil smile still on his face. He activated his after-burners, boosting his speed to charge Sonic. Sonic stayed his ground, taking the full force of Metal. He was an immovable object, Metal pushing, trying to hit him. The blows glanced off as if they were nothing. Sonic was gone in another instance, above Metal once again.

“It's a real shame, you know. But it seems you're too slow!” Sonic reared back, aiming himself at Metal. He disappeared again appearing on the other side of Metal. Metal had been cut in half, by the sheer speed of Sonic ramming into him. Metal's head was still functioning as Dark Sonic grabbed it and crushed it in his hands.

***Meanwhile***

Rouge had just dug her way out of the rubble caused by the Chaos Blast, with a now functioning Omega, when the Island shook.

“I booted improperly, but I seem to be functioning at peak efficiency,” Omega stated, in his usual cold tone, “The surrounding structure seems to have been greatly weakened by a large explosion. Evacuation from the area is advised.”

“We need to find Shadow and Knuckles first,” Rouge said, chalking up the shaking as being the sketchy construction after what Shadow did. She began to dig, when a red arm with a white glove reached out of the rubble. Knuckles pulled himself free, carrying a bruised and battered Shadow out on his back, “Are you two okay?” Rouge asked holding her breath.

“W-we a-are fine. Given the c-circumstances,” Shadow coughed, clinging to Knuckles back.

“I told you not to talk!” Knuckles yelled, “Do you want me to try to find a bone you didn't break and make it like the rest?! Just rest, okay. . .we'll get you out of here.”

“He's lucky he isn't dead,” Rouge pointed at him.

“Luck h-had nothing t-to do with it,” Shadow laughed, “I-I am the u-ultimate life-form after all”

“Lets go before this whole place come down on top of us,” Rouge said looking at the damaged ceiling, “We need to get you to a hospital anyway.”

“That course of action is advised,” Omega said, “I am detecting that over ninety percent of Shadow's bones are broken or fractured.”

“N-no we n-need to check on Sonic,” Shadow struggled.

“Fine,” Rouge sighed, he would be to stubborn to listen anyway, “Just tell me which way to go.”

***Elsewhere***

Tails had just finished cutting the bars on the cells with his laser. Cream and her chao, Cheese, hugged him.

“Thank you, Mr. Tails. You're my hero!”

“Oh, um, it was nothing,” Tails blushed, rubbing the back of his head.

“Where is Sonic?” Amy asked stretching as if she had been confined in a much smaller cell.

“I'll take you to him,” Tails said, leading the way back down the hall.

“So why do you think we weren't guarded?” Amy asked.

“Metal didn't see us as a threat, especially you two. . . no offense.”

“None taken, Mr. Tails,” Cream smiled.

***Later***

Dark Sonic was still floating above Prison Island, contemplating his next move. He was ready to terrorize the people of the world, but where to start. He looked off in each direction, remembering the cities and places he could go. As he was contemplating this, Tails arrived in the room below him. The light was streaming in, almost blinding the small group.

“Oh no. . .” Tails said , looking up and seeing the dark blue hedgehog above him.

“What's wrong with Sonic?” Amy turned to Tails, who clearly knew more about the situation than her.

“He. . . he snapped. That is an entity that he called Dark Sonic. We need to get him back, talk him down,” Tails said, turning to the two behind him.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked, fear in her voice.

“That isn't Sonic. That is an animal he has kept caged inside himself, until now. I just saw it recently, before we came here,” Tails paused, “Sonic was so upset he punched a hole in a solid metal desk. He probably destroyed Metal and blasted the roof off this room.” Shadow and company arrived a few seconds later. Shadow strained to look up. There he saw what he knew was a bad sign.

“H- how's the situation,” Shadow coughed.

“Not good, I don't even know if we will be able to snap him out of it. He did all this,” Tails pointed to the hole in the roof and the small crater in the ground, “And he most likely destroyed Metal.”  
“Yeah, that sounds bad,” Knuckles said looking at the sheer size of the hole in awestruck horror.

“Well, a-any ideas M-Miles,” Shadow gasped.

“One, but it is a long shot,” Tails paused, “He was agonizing over our safety, blaming it on himself. Metal probably just prodded him to hard and sent him over the edge. All we have to do is show him we are okay and maybe he will snap out of it.”

“Okay, lets get his attention,” Rouge said to Amy.

“On it!” Amy replied, “Sonic! Are you okay!” Amy yelled as loud as she could, causing one of Sonic's ears to twitch in recognition to the sound. Sonic turned in the air quickly, looking down at his friends. He froze as he began to crawl his way back to himself. Dark Sonic wasn't powerful enough to keep his real self down. Emotions flooded back in as he looked at his friends, no. . . his family. He stopped smiling as a tear came to his eye. They. . . they were okay. All of them, alive. He began to descend slowly as his natural color came back to him. His fur turned lighter, his skin regained its brightness and the aura around him faded. When he touched the ground he was back to normal. Even his eyes were bright and green, as they should have been.

“Guys, I thought you were dead. . .” Sonic trailed off, collapsing on the floor. Tears rolled down onto the concrete as he fought unconsciousness, “I-I'm so glad you all are okay.”

“It's okay Sonic, we all are here,” Tails' voice broke through the haze as Sonic passed out, “And we always will. . .”

 

**[Episode 10] Trying to Tame the Beast**

Sonic woke with a start. It was the middle of the day and light was streaming into the room. He sat up slowly, feeling his joints creak as he did. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was in a large white room with a window facing a street directly in front of him. To his left was a blue-green curtain, which split him off from the rest of the room. He was in a hospital in downtown Station Square. He reached out and pulled back the curtain, to see if he was alone in the room. As he drew it back he saw Shadow in a full body cast, asleep in the adjacent bed. He had never seen Shadow in such a condition and didn't know whether he should be upset or laughing. At that moment an image of Metal Sonic, split in half, flashed in his mind. That was followed by a flood of other images. He held his hands to his head. He felt as if he was losing his mind, as if his head was going to explode. Tears welled up in his eyes. Had he really done all those things, thought those thoughts? He shook his head, then felt something warm on his upper lip. He rubbed under his nose and pulled away his hand. Sonic was shocked to see that his nose was bleeding. He grabbed some tissues from the nightstand and wiped away the blood, trying to stop the nosebleed.

Tails walked in shortly after Sonic had finally gotten the bleeding to stop. Tails dropped the book he was carrying and rushed over to Sonic, throwing his arms around him.

“I was so worried about you,” Tails voice trembled, “I didn't think you would ever wake up.”

Sonic looked at Tails almost as if he was a stranger. He had seen what he had done, what he had became. He shuddered at the thought of what that. . . that monster could have done to his friends.

“I've been coming and reading to you everyday,” Tails pulled away from Sonic and pointed to the book on the floor.

“How long was I out,” Sonic composed himself, “You said you were worried I wasn't going to wake up, so how long?”

“Almost a month,” Tails replied.

“Wow,” Sonic sounded detached, as if his mind was somewhere else.

“What's wrong?” Tails sensed Sonic was upset.

“I-I,” Sonic stuttered, “I'm worried about hurting you.”

Tails laughed a little, then his face turned serious, “We know what you did. We saw the aftermath, each and everyone of us. Sure we were worried, but you are still Sonic. You're still my big brother.”

Sonic grabbed Tails shoulders, looking him dead in the eyes, “I killed Metal, I almost went on a world-wide rampage! Do you understand! I. . . I'm a monster!”

Tails pushed Sonic's hands off his shoulders. He stood up and turned away. Then he wheeled back around, pointing a finger at Sonic, “You are not a monster! That thing isn't you, understand?! You are Sonic the Hedgehog and I'm not about to let that. . . that thing take my big brother!”

Sonic smiled and wiped away the tears from his eyes. He didn't know what to say, all he could do was nod. He always had seen Tails as more of a brother than a friend, and this clenched that Tails truly felt the same about him. Tails sat back down, seeing that his words had made a significant impact. There was a stirring on the other side of the room followed by a loud grunt.

“Thanks for waking me up guys,” Shadow sighed, “It's not like I broke almost all of my bones or something.”

“And a good afternoon to you too, Shadow,” Sonic chuckled.

“He's just upset that his bones don't heal faster. He figured since he was the “ultimate life-form” he would have been out in a week,” Tails laughed.

“The doctors say I'm still making a rather quick recovery,” Shadow grumbled.

Tails and Sonic laughed as the sun began to set.

***One Week Later, South Island***

Sonic had been out running every day since being discharged from the hospital. Being out of commission for a month made him very antsy, even more than usual. He was weaker due to the atrophy of a month, so his runs were also an attempt to build back up to his normal strength. It was late in the afternoon when he returned to Tails' Lab. He walked in and sat down in the kitchen, cooling off from the run. Tails came in out of the workshop and sat next to him.

“I've been thinking,” Sonic said after a brief moment, “And I think I'm going off to the mountains to train.”

“Well if you're going, I'm going,” Tails assured him.

“I knew you would,” Sonic glanced over at him with a smile.

“What about everybody else?” Tails asked.

“What do you mean?” Sonic turned to Tails.

“Are we going to tell them?” Tails looked at Sonic.

“Yeah, we should all meet somewhere,” Sonic nodded.

“Okay, I will wait a while and call everybody,” Tails said, “Shadow is still recovering, so I will wait until he's discharged.”

“Sounds good,” Sonic stood up and ran out the door, going for another run.

***A Month Later, Station Square Park***

Shadow walked into the park, watching all the people playing, talking, and picnicking. It was a beautiful day, but he wasn't here to enjoy the scenery or the weather. Earlier that day he had been discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health. As soon as he had exited the hospital, Shadow received a call from Tails, telling him to meet everyone at Station Square Park. He didn't know what it was about, but it sounded urgent. He saw a large group off on the other side of the park, and he ran over. Sonic and Tails were sitting on a picnic table, and his team, Amy, Big, The Chaotix, Mighty, and Knuckles were all there sitting in front of Sonic. Shadow sat between Rouge and Omega, and waited for Sonic to start.

“So everybody's here?” Sonic looked at Tails.

“Yeah, Cream couldn't come,” He trailed off a little, “Vanilla wouldn't let her.”

“Okay then,” Sonic jumped off the table, landing in front of the group, “You all may be wondering why we called you here. Well, you see, Tails and I are going off to train in the mountains. I want to be sure we are ready for the next threat when it comes around. I think you all should break up into groups and do the same. All of us were vastly unprepared for Metal, and the fact that we all made it was pure luck. So we all need to prepare, to improve ourselves, and to do it away from here is probably the best idea. We make wherever we are a target, so lets make it impossible for who ever would do us harm to be able to make one calculated strike. It will be two years of training at least, to ensure we improve at least a little.”

“You've really been thinking about this, huh?” Knuckles looked at Sonic a little surprised.

“Yeah, well after that incident, I had a lot of time to think. . .” Sonic trailed off.

“So do you guys know who you want to go train with,” Tails piped up.

“I'm going with you guys,” Mighty pointed at Sonic, “I didn't just go sightseeing when I left. I was learning new techniques and I think I can help you guys train.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Sonic smiled, shaking Mighty's hand.

“B-But boss, what about us?” Vector stuttered. After the way Mighty handled the decoy factory situation, Vector had pretty much handed over leadership to Mighty. Now the team was losing it's leader, again.

“Don't worry about it, Vex,” Knuckles smiled, “How about you guys train with me on Angel Island. It will be like old times.”

“It would be great to have you back. . . boss,” Vector smiled.

“Yay! We got our old boss back!” Charmy chimed in.

“What about you Rouge?” Tails looked at the Bat.

“Omega and I were selected to run GUN missions,” She replied, pushing on the robot's shoulder, “That will be our training, I guess.”

“Affirmative,” Omega agreed.

“Okay then!” Sonic was getting excited to see all this progress.

“I want to train with Shadow,” Amy said. Everyone stopped for a moment, shocked to hear Amy's choice.

“Not going after Sonic, huh?” Knuckles teased, breaking the silence.

“I just think I could learn more from Shadow, okay!” She blushed grabbing the handle of her hammer.

“Okay, okay, you don't have to bring the hammer into this,” Knuckles apologized, covering his head.

“Fine,” Shadow was hiding a slight blush, “But just know, it wont be a walk in the park. We'll head off for the Jungle. I think that will be the best place for us to train.”

“That just leaves you, Big,” Sonic said.

“Huh? I'm just gonna stay here with Cream. Maybe I can help her train,” He replied innocently.

“Well I need to go get my stuff together,” Sonic started off at a slow jog, “I'll see you guys in two years!”

Sonic took off as everyone else split up to prepare for training.

***Later that day, Shadow's Apartment***

Shadow was about finished packing. He made sure to pack first aid , his Chaos Emerald, and training gear (clothes and equipment). He was about to zip up his bag when he looked over at a picture on his wall. He smiled and took it down. A small layer of dust accumulated on it, which he brushed off with his hand. The picture of Dr. Gerald, Maria, and himself held a special place for him. He had vowed to live for the future, but still he liked to reminisce on the past. So many memories, good and bad, and he was the sum of all those experiences. He tucked it gently in his bag, between some of his training clothes. As he zipped his bag closed, there was a knock at his door.

“I'm coming,” He yelled through the solid door. He walked over and swung it open. There was Amy, a large bag on her back. “You ready to go?” Shadow seemed surprised.

“Yeah, I packed only the essentials, like you suggested,” She smiled.

“Okay then, I will pull my motorcycle around and we can take off.”

***Meanwhile, GUN HQ***

“Agent Rouge, Agent Omega,” The commander was pacing in front of the two, “Your first assignment will be at the old Chemical Plant. It was built by Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik some years ago, and lately there have been reports that a Chaos Emerald may be located there. You will go in, investigate, and, if you do find it, retrieve the Chaos Emerald. You have two days to prepare, so you are dismissed!”

Rouge saluted and turned to Omega, “Well are you ready?”

“Affirmative.”

***Station Square, outskirts***

Big stepped into Vanilla the Rabbit's house. He looked around as Vanilla walked in.

“Hello Big,” she sighed, “I guess you came over to play with Cream? She's in her room, I think.”

“Thanks,” he smiled moving upstairs and back into Cream's room.

“Big,” She said pulling a cape out of her closet, “We have work to do.”

Cheese was excitedly flying around the room, anticipating some fun.

***Angel Island***

“We're here, boss,” Vector called out to Knuckles. He was nowhere to be seen. It was odd not to see him next to the altar where the Master Emerald was.

“Where is he?” Espio said, half meditating already.

“Maybe we should come back later?” Charmy shrugged.

Then as if from nowhere, Knuckles burst from the ground, narrowly missing Vector with his uppercut, who had stepped back by instinct.

“Your training starts here, fellas!” He yelled, landing then immediately charging the group.

***The Train Station, Station Square***

Sonic stood wearing a large jacket. Sonic F was written on the back, the original name of his plane. He tapped his foot, ever the impatient one. He glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes early. He was always either late or extremely early, and now he was bored. Tails came running up the steps, clearly worn out from running to get here. He had a large duffel bag and a backpack on. Sonic looked down at his much smaller duffel bag.

“You know you could have packed lighter right?” Sonic tapped Tails shoulder with his fist.

“Yeah well, I need all this to work on new inventions,” Tails put the large duffel down on the train platform, “I have plans to make EMPs and perfect the Miles Electric 2, among other things,” He pulled out the ME2 and began to mess with it.

Mighty came right as the train arrived, ready to go.“Well guys, I guess it's time to head out,” Mighty said hopping on the train.

“Yeah, come on Sonic!” Tails excitedly boarded the train.

Sonic looked back towards the city, a smile on his face. He was going to come back better, able to handle anything. He stepped on the train, and sat next to his friends.

***Eggcarrier, location unkown***

Eggman sat watching monitors in the bridge of the Eggcarrier. His Egg-drones were watching as all the groups began to prepare for training. On another monitor he pulled up a video from a few months ago. It was of Sonic destroying Metal. He paused it when Sonic happened to look directly at the camera. He looked for a moment then set it on a loop. He studied it and began to chuckle.

“So Sonic, I guess I will see you in two years. And I'm going to be taking that immense power from you! And with it I will finally be able to make my Eggmanland!” He laughed maniacally as the Eggcarrier flew towards the sunset. . .

_ **End of Season 1** _


End file.
